Somsen pitches gem at Saint Louis

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Layne Somsen and J.D. Moore combined on a seven-hit shutout as the South Dakota State University baseball team got back on the winning track with a 3-0 victory over Saint Louis (Mo.) Friday afternoon in the opening game of a three-game series.

The Jackrabbits, who ended a three-game losing streak, improved to 9-6 overall. Saint Louis, which is the preseason favorite in the Atlantic-10 Conference, dropped to 11-8 overall.

SDSU broke a scoreless deadlock in the top of the seventh inning with three consecutive hits in the seventh inning. Scott Splett reached on an infield single, moved to third on a double by Jake Ratz and scored on a single up the middle by Aaron Machbitz.

The Jackrabbits added two more runs in the top of the eighth. Paul Jacobson led off with an infield single and scored on Reid Clary's opposite-field triple down the right-field line. Tyler Shannon followed with a base hit to plate Clary.

Somsen, meanwhile, turned in another sharp performance, striking out six Billiken batters and walking only one in 8 2/3 innings. The senior right-hander exited after giving up two hits in the bottom of the ninth before giving way to Moore, who retired pinch-hitter A.J. VanderVorste to end the game. Moore notched his third save of the save of the season.

No player recorded more than one hit in the game, although SLU held a 7-6 advantage in hits.

SLU starter Alex Alemann struck out five and walked one in eight innings.

Due to inclement weather in the forecast, the two teams are scheduled to conclude their series with a doubleheader Saturday, starting at noon.